Monday, April 16, 2007

MRC Sprint Race Report- My first 1st place Finish!

The race went great, I had a fantastic overall race. My swim was not exceptional, no warm up and it was definitely not my fastest 500 but my watch time was 9:44. The bike was GREAT. I felt super and pushed the entire time, it was 3 laps and I was faster with each lap. My total time on the bike was 32 and change. The run was the best part of the day, I got into a really good pace right away and never fell back. I was able to turn it up a bit at the end and managed to pass every single person within eyesight on the course. My run time was 22mins and change. It was actually 5.8km instead of 5 so not bad for me. The transitions were pretty good, I decided to go straight on the bike without any add'l clothes. It may have slowed me down in T2 though as my fingers were frozen and I had trouble undoing my helmet and getting into my shoes. But overall I felt really good.The chip times are funny because the swim time started when you crossed the mat in the pool, then had to walk to your lane, get in and swim. The time stopped after you exited the pool, went up two sets of stairs and outside to the timing mat. So my swim time on paper looks bad. The bike time included both transitions, which wasn't too bad, and the run was accurate. My total time was 1hr 6min which was fast enough to get me 1st place woman and 11th overall. Aside from splits, placings etc, the real win for me was how I felt. This was an early season race that normally would have hurt! I felt so strong and amazing the entire time. Maybe that means I didn't push hard enough but I really felt like I pushed the whole way and still felt fantastic! It was a great reward for all the indoor training sessions all winter! The bonus was my prize- a massive gift basket from Planet Organic filled with yummy stuff. Made my day! Darin came in second overall and he left with a ton of swag too. We were both pretty stoked.

So I am fired up to keep this training up! I really feel like it is my year to do it.

We still had a 90min ride to do following the race, so we rented a movie and did an easy spin on the trainers. It was mentally tough to finish as I was pretty tired and starting to get stiff. But with my little motivation man at my side I finished the entire ride and did a good stretch after.